The various embodiments of the invention relate to an improved user interface for a telecommunications apparatus that can receive data from, and transmit data to, other telecommunication apparatuses. More particularly, but not exclusively, the various embodiments of the invention relate to an improved user interface for an Internet web browser.
Sometimes, when a user uses a web browser to view internet pages, the user will type the web page address (also known as a Uniform Resource Locator or “URL”) into the web browser. Alternatively, the user may use a “bookmark” specifying a web page address. The web page address both specifies a particular machine connected to the internet, and also specifies a particular web resource (such as a specific web server name or specific web page) on that machine. The web browser then transmits a request for the desired page to the web server, as a result of which the web server returns information to the web browser that defines the appearance of the web page. Sometimes, the web address validly specifies the internet address of a web server but does not validly specify a web page on the particular web server. For example, the user may either (i) incorrectly enter the internet address of the desired page, or (ii) may enter the resource address (path) of a web page that previously existed but no longer exists. In such cases the web server will return an error code to the user's web browser. A typical error code is hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP) “404 Not Found” although there are also various other error codes such as “410 Gone”. A user receiving such messages thus learns only that the specified web page does not exist, without any further reasons or useful information being provided.
In some cases, the web server may direct a user to the website's homepage, in the event that the user requests a page that is not available on the server, but this is usually of limited usefulness or interest to the user whose actions in specifying a particular web page within a web site are typically indicative of a specific interest.